Untouchable
by assimilates
Summary: Three different POVs on the potential relationship between Darth Vader and the handmaiden, Dormé.
1. Version 1: Dormé's POV

**" UNTOUCHABLE "**

_01. VERSION ONE: DORMÉ'S POV_

There was always that glint of darkness lingering in his eyes. She was aware of it, she could see it, she was entranced by it. Dormé was also well aware of the fact that her mistress saw it as well, but what bewildered the handmaiden was that Padmé Amidala...ignored it. Whenever Anakin Skywalker would get that certain look about him, that glint in those blue eyes of his, Padmé would turn away and act as if nothing of the sort had just occurred and promptly change the subject.

That sort of thing mystified the handmaiden, as she found herself continually intrigued by that sly smile that would spread across the features of the rather handsome Jedi Knight, and wondered why her mistress had never thought to question the thoughts behind the expressions. It was something, should Dormé ever be in Padmé's situation, would do. What sort of things was he thinking within that complex mind of his to make him look as if he were about to unleash chaos upon the world in the blink of an eye when the initial conversation had to do with nothing of the sort.

Her mistress always spoke of political matters and judging from what he'd said on his part during conversations she was fortunate to be present for, Dormé knew that Anakin detested politics. Being the principal handmaiden of a woman like Senator Amidala, Dormé knew all too well how exasperating it could be for one to hear nothing of politics day after day, as it had been the only thing her mistress ever spoke of. That was, until her mistress was wed to Anakin. When Dormé had learned the truth about them - granted, she had seen something of the sort coming, as the two rather obvious about their attraction when around one another - Padmé had started to open up to her about her forbidden marriage to the Jedi Knight. Dormé found herself captivated by the tales her mistress would tell of their secret meetings and romantic rendezvous at Padmé's lake retreat back home on Naboo. She found herself wanting something like that for herself.

She found herself wanting Anakin.

It was something that troubled her for many months after the initial dream she'd had, where her subconscious mind had placed her into Padmé's role during one of the more recent visits of Anakin's that her mistress had described to her. She was disappointed in herself for allowing herself to start down the path of falling for man who was untouchable. A married man. And not just any married man, but a Jedi Knight who also happened to be married to the woman she'd spent her life training to serve. Oh, what a predicament she was in. At that point in time, the possibility of her being with Anakin was only a fantasy. Something she would allow herself to dream of when alone in her quarters, comforted by the blanket of sleep, and something she would never speak of to her fellow handmaidens. She out ranked them and if they knew...they would look down upon her, and that was a risk she certainly could not take.

Dormé remembered the first day he spoke to her. It was something that became engraved in her mind, something that she would replay on closed lids time and time again. It was during the latter half of the Clone Wars and her mistress had been delayed in her arrival to her penthouse (where she was to meet with Anakin, who'd just arrived back on Coruscant) due to a swarm of paparazzi who'd ambushed her on the flight deck several stories below.

Anakin had been standing out on the veranda, peering over the edge through the hood that concealed his face. The lights from the speeders that zoomed on past reflected off of what little she could see of his face, making that glint of darkness seem more illuminated than normal.

She wanted to tell him that leaning over the edge that far might get him noticed, that it was a bad idea to do so with so many cameras around that could easily point upwards and capture his image, that he was risking everything he'd worked so hard to protect in doing so...but, it was not her place to speak up. She wasn't even supposed to be in this area of the penthouse at the moment. She, herself, had come out of her quarters to see what keeping her mistress, when she'd caught sight of Anakin...just looming there. Like a shadow.

Dormé took a step closer, slowly working up the nerve to speak out of line (with just cause, in her mind), when he'd turned to her and spoke.

"I don't see how she does it," Anakin had said as he moved away from the edge, more towards the center where he was less likely to be seen.

"Does what," Dormé had responded, not quite understanding his statement. Perhaps she would've, if she had been paying closer attention to what Anakin was looking at and hadn't been so entranced by the man himself.

"Cope. I mean to say, how she handles the paparazzi so well. If I were in her situation, I would become quickly annoyed by the flashing of cameras and the constant assault of questions."

"It would damage milady's image to do otherwise."

He'd taken another step towards her then and lifted up his gloved hand to bring the hood down from around his head, revealing those intense blue eyes that he'd been hiding. "Why do you say that?"

"Milady is renown for her understanding, for her patience, for her calm...if she were to loose her temper, especially in front of those with the power to exploit it, she would loose that serene image that surrounds her. While she may be annoyed, may be angered...she does not show it. For it would cost her more to speak up then to remain silent."

Dormé remembered the smile that crossed his face then, the way her looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time, the way he'd taken another step towards her and opened his mouth as if to say more...and how it all shattered. For, in that instance, her mistress had finally entered the penthouse and whatever more he had to say faded from his mind as he stepped around her and quickly ran to embrace his wife.

How she wished she had something like that.

And now, as she stands near him on the bridge of his star destroyer, she wonders if she would have been truly happy with the life that her mistress had with him. One of constant worry and sorrow, of let downs and regret, of weeks without word or mention... Perhaps she had been better off with her imagination in those days. Yet, she wonders if Padmé would be able to stand beside him now, confined to a suit and helmet that is needed to keep his damaged body alive...after knowing what he did and what he still planned to do.

No, she couldn't have.

Dormé spent a good portion of her life at Padmé's side, and she knew that if it had not been for her untimely death at the hands of rebellious Jedi Knights, that her mistress would be leading the Rebels against her husband, despite her love for him. Because, that was the way her mistress was. It was better for her to forgo her feelings for Anakin--no, Darth Vader--and fight for the general cause, than to give into temptation and through caution to the wind. Padmé could never stand beside him now.

But, Dormé could.

After the death of her mistress, she'd come across someone who worked for the Empire, an Inquisitor Malorum. It was through his research that she learned Darth Vader was really Anakin Skywalker. It was then that she decided to join the ranks of the Imperial forces in order to get close to someone who seemed more untouchable than before. But, perhaps it was the other way around this time.

For now, there was no protocol, no wife or mistress to get in the way, no violations of any kind... And nothing that could make her think less of the being who dwelled behind that dark mask. Even with through that mask of his, she could tell that the glint was still there. Entrancing her more than ever before.

And this time, she intended to ask him just what was on his mind.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_"Star Wars" is © George Lucas. The pairing of Anakin/Dormé is the OTP plot bunny of my good friend, Cariel._

**AN:** This was rather difficult for me to write, as I'm one of those "hardcore Padmé fans" and am very much a P/A shipper. However, I'm extremely open-minded and welcome to new ideas, twists, and turns, and especially love a challenge. Thus, I challenged myself to write this. It's not much, but...enjoy. -

12.03.2006, edited 06.12.2007


	2. Version 2: Padmé's POV

**" UNTOUCHABLE "**

_02. VERSION TWO: PADMÉ'S POV_

Padmé Amidala hadn't been stupid, nor had she been blind. Being the skilled diplomat that she'd been in her days, she could easily read people. The position she'd held almost demanded it. No matter how well Dormé had thought she was masking her emotions, Padmé had seen straight through that veil, and Dormé's movements had spoken volumes to the Nabooan Senator. Fortunately for Padmé, she had been the better actress. For all Dormé had known, her mistress had been blissfully unaware.

However, that was far from the truth.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Dormé was the most efficient member of her staff at that point in time, Padmé might've considered having the handmaiden replaced. But, that would've been a very foolish decision on her part, as Padmé had not had a principal handmaiden as good as Dormé since her days as Queen of Naboo. And, Sabé had trained Dormé well. It had pained the senator to think wrongly of someone so skilled at their duties - especially when it had affected whether she lived or died in some situations - but that hadn't been something she could easily ignore.

For Dormé had clearly been in love with her husband.

It was something that Padmé hadn't been sure she was reading right at first, for the thought of someone allowing themselves to fall for someone as untouchable as a Jedi Knight was almost laughable. Of course, thinking such a thought momentarily made Padmé into a hypocrite, as she was the one who was _married_ to him.

Despite how wrong she knew it had been, how many lines she'd been aware she was crossing, how many rules she had broken in the process...she could not help but love him. Padmé had risked so much to be with him and the thought of someone else remotely contemplating being with him made her feel...threatened.

She hadn't been the type of person who was overtly possessive of her belongings, nor had she been greedy. Never did she say that she enjoyed wearing the elaborate gowns that her status had demanded she adorn. No one ever asked. They had just assumed that she had enjoyed every aspect of the high society life she had lived.

Indeed, she had been a good actress.

Never did she show how much the head-dresses she had worn hurt her neck, how hard it had been to walk in heels while wearing a dress that weighed twice as much as she had, or how difficult it had been to breathe when wearing one of those awful corsets... She could've cared less if her penthouse had been robbed and every single gold-trimmed gown went missing. But, with her husband...she had, in a way, felt _possessive_ of him.

Perhaps it had been due to the nature of the era, or maybe it had been the fact that he had been the only thing she truly wanted. She didn't ask to be Senator, but had been too willing to help her plant to say no to Queen Jamilia when offered the position after Palpatine became Supreme Chancellor. And, with the way things had turned out in the Senate with the Loyalist Committee's motives...she had wanted to be anything _but_ a Senator towards the end of her days. She'd often found herself wishing she could step down and run back to Naboo, be with the parents and sister she loved and missed dearly...but, she couldn't have brought herself to abandon her people like that. They had counted on her way too much.

What a wasted effort that had been. They had expected her to stop a war, but if asked what she _wanted_...it was anything but that. And while she had indeed wanted that, she wanted Anakin more.

She wondered why Dormé had wanted him then, for the handmaiden had barely known him at the time. She couldn't even recall if her husband had ever spoken to her. But, the attraction Dormé had felt towards Anakin Skywalker had been very apparent: the way she moved around him, watched him as he spoke, and had made sure to be present in the room where he was around...

Padmé remembered a moment when she realized that if things had been different, if somehow she wasn't in the picture or if Dormé had been the on Anakin had laid eyes upon in Watto's shop on Tatooine when he was barely ten-years-old... Then, perhaps there could have been something more to Dormé mere attraction to him. Maybe Anakin would have returned that attraction and pursued her instead.

She had just narrowly escaped a hoard of paparazzi who'd been determined to get an interview with her in regards to the recent anti-war debates in Senate and rather eager to fling herself into the arms of a man she hadn't seen in months. Just knowing that he was waiting for her in her penthouse was driving her mad. She had to see him. Even if all she could do was stare from a distance, she'd take it, for it would've been far better than a fuzzy holo recording from half-way across the galaxy.

But, when she'd laid eyes upon him...he he'd been standing in rather close proximity to _her_. It was perhaps the first time in her life that she felt jealous of anyone. And, it was then that she knew of the possibilities. Of course, those thoughts had vanished when Anakin had laid eyes upon her and instantly rushed to her side, enveloping her in his embrace.

That had been a happier, simpler time. Before he'd turned on her, before she'd realized that the side of him that she'd glimpsed before on Tatooine was a larger part of him than she ever imagined, before the events he spun into motion that had ultimately led to her death. Her dying words to Obi-Wan, as she lay upon that table, listening to the sound of her new-born twins crying, had been: "There's still good in him."

Even now, as she watched him order the destruction of millions, hunt down the remaining Jedi, and slaughter the innocent...she _knew_ that deep down inside him, somewhere within the part of Anakin Skywalker that Darth Vader had buried, there **was** still good in him.

Which is why, despite everything she had felt then, she now felt...thankful for Dormé's feelings towards Anakin. It was rather remarkable that after all Anakin had done, she _still _cared for him. Had Padmé survived the induced childbirth and other complications that had killed her, she would've felt differently. She would be fighting against him instead of standing beside him.

Yes, she had loved him. But, she could not have followed him. It was just something she could not do. Darkness was not a part of Padmé Amidala, no matter how much Anakin had wanted it to be.

That goodness she mentioned is still there. Somewhere, just waiting for the moment when it can be drawn out and used to stop the chaos and destruction invoked by Palpatine--no, Darth Sidious' fiendish plans. And maybe, just maybe, Dormé can be that kind hand to help guide him back towards the light.

For that, Padmé Amidala is grateful. Now, he is untouchable to her, but not to Dormé.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_"Star Wars" is © George Lucas. The pairing of Anakin/Dormé is the OTP plot bunny of my good friend, Cariel._

**AN:** This chapter might be a little odd to some of you, being that it's written from Padmé's POV. I hadn't originaly intended on making this anything beyond a one-shot, but being the "hardcore Padmé fan" that I am, I felt the urge to show what she would see. It's basically the same scene mentioned in the first chapter, only seen through another's eyes. The next chapter, Anakin's POV, will be added...eventually.

03.30.2007, edited 06.12.2007


End file.
